A new year comes with a new edition for every yearly sports franchise. Despite the criticism from many that an existing game would be better off with patches that fix bugs and change the roster as needed, the yearly release cycle still produces big bucks, so there's no reason to abandon it. The yearly cycle does create a problem for developers in that they always have to introduce something new to entice the more casual players to give the new game a shot, despite the previous title being fully functional at its core. For EA Sports FC 27, that new thing is something borrowed from another game from another company.

The Grounds is the new thing in question, and if you're into other sports games, you can't help but think of The City from the NBA 2K series when you see it. It's essentially a hub for a good number of multiplayer modes, all within the guise of a living city — complete with the ability to customize your avatar. One thing that will stand out to players is that the onboarding process feels rushed. You start with a quick tutorial on the basics of football, but it's all done from an NBA 2K-style or Madden NFL-style viewpoint that you don't get by default in the game. From there, you run around with an avatar that you can't do anything with and get an introduction to the city by Alex Hunter, a fictional character created for the story modes in a few of the old FIFA games. You then get together with Kylian Mbappe to go for a quick 2v2 street match before you finally get out of the tutorial mode, craft your avatar, and get into the game.

What you'll find is a city that's divided into three segments representing different world locales: France, England, and Brazil. Each section has its own representatives, with Kylian Mbappe representing game types, Chloe Kelly representing minigames, and Paulo Dybala representing clubs. Interestingly, none of the actual areas exclusively feature these things, so the association is superficial. You can go to various hotspots to play different match types, like various configurations of Rush football. You can also use similar hotspots to play minigames, like a basketball variation of football. Clubs are just like before, where you need to gather a team of 11 real players to take on all comers. Outside of those events, you can also mess around with the world by drop-kicking various targets or looking up various signs and graffiti to get some tidbits on soccer history. Governing all of this is an XP and reward system that gives you both items and currency specific to this mode.

On the one hand, the inclusion of these kinds of minigames and street football variations are reminiscent of the EA Big games of several generations ago, like FIFA Street, where the focus was on arcade-style football with very little in the way of rules. It's pretty neat to see these variations included with the main game to give players a complete football package for the year. On the other hand, it's disappointing that these modes are only available for online play. Just about all of the modes in The Grounds could've been better served as menu items instead. This is especially true when you realize that the play space may be empty when next year's iteration hits the shelves. Playing the minigames can be fun, but the idea of spending real money to dress up your avatar in branded kits feels futile when you know that no one will care in a year's time.

The rest of the game offers the usual annual sports game formula of minor improvements in existing modes, instead of large sweeping changes. For a bulk of the modes, the changes come in the form of little gameplay tweaks. Corner kicking gets the most attention, as there's now a three-step process where you still have to figure out where to kick and where to position your next player, but there's a point in between when you can change positional tactics on the fly. This change leads to a higher scoring percentage from the corner, but the move doesn't become overpowering. Another change works in the game's favor: tweaks to AI behavior. The computer-controller players tend to be more aggressive to the point where they commit fouls more often than before, but not to the degree that would better fit an arcade game.

For the career-style modes, the big change comes from the game's trading and transfer system. The better the player, the more aggressive the trades will be, as more teams are vying for that player's services. There's a better sense of realism, as the game will now flat out reject trades from rivals and there's a bigger tendency for clubs to pull off an 11th hour offer, just like they would in real life. For those who live and die on the careers of footballers or like running teams more from a managerial position, this is a nice show of depth to a feature that players have wanted significant tweaks for.

Then you have FC Ultimate Team, the mode that sparks controversy but has become one of the main reasons people keep returning. The bulk of this mode remains unchanged from previous iterations. You're still opening card packs to build up your team and then take them into matches to go up against either AI players or real players. You get wins to earn currency, which can be used to earn more packs of cards of various rarities or cards that can then be used to power up your cards. The mode's addictive nature is still strong, but it is strengthened by a new collection feature where you're trying to get cards to complete specific sets, such as teams in a certain league or players of a certain nationality. Considering how many players are represented in the game and how many teams exist, the collection feature is a surefire way to guarantee that players will keep buying packs. Take into account how expensive each pack is and how slow you earn in-game currency, and you create a perfect scenario where this mode alone can become a huge money sink for those with addictive tendencies. It's made worse by the fact that cards can be graded based on their rarity level.

The series remains very good from an audio perspective. The commentary team still has a great delivery and amount of variety thanks to the multiple configurations at play, and every combination works very well with one another. The crowd is another highlight, as the rhythmic chanting that football crowds are known for come through nicely, and that helps the game feel authentic. The soundtrack is just as varied as before, with loads of songs representing just about every region.

Where the audio begins to falter is in The Grounds, and that all comes down to the voices. Despite having three districts present, it always feels like you're barely going to hear anyone speak differently when going from one area to another. You may not notice it because the music is always tailored to fit the zone, but having someone in the Brazilian area speak French does happen from time to time. More egregious is the voice acting for your mentors, as everyone either sounds like they're reading from the script without any sense of the situation or are delivering the wrong emotion for the scene. You'd expect this from the footballers, who aren't exactly known for their acting chops, but it is surprising to hear that from the person playing Alex Hunter. Their performance several games ago was heavily praised, but the performance in EA Sports FC 27 falls flat in comparison.

While the graphics haven't changed at first glance, what you're getting is still quite good. The players are extremely detailed, exactly what you'd expect from a modern sports game, while the crowd is only a notch below in quality, but they still look impressive. The various pitches look very nice, which is also a big feat considering how many places there are in this game. Lighting and shadowing look great, and the game moves at a very high frame rate without eating up too much video memory.

Just like in the audio department, the one area where the game's graphical prowess falters is in The Grounds. There are instances of pop-in that you'll see on some of the background elements, like bushes. The same applies for players and bystanders, but that isn't a big deal since people can't block you from moving forward. The most notable example of things looking bad is your own animations when not playing soccer. Running looks odd, with arms flailing around unrealistically, but the movement on stairs is terrible, since there's constant stuttering for every tiny elevation change. For a company that prides itself on sports games animating well, this flies counter to that perception.

If you're planning on playing the game on a Steam Deck or a Linux system, forget it. EA's move to its own kernel level anti-cheat system named Javelin has ensured that any of its games that feature an online component won't run on a non-Windows PC. This has been going on for a few years, and EA still is keen on using it despite the negative feedback on the technology. With the recent news that Epic Games is investigating a new form of Easy Anti Cheat made specifically with Linux in mind, EA's mindset could change, but don't expect big changes anytime soon.

Your opinion of EA Sports FC 27 will be entirely dependent on several factors. If you're a newcomer to the series, this game is a blast. You'll get smoked by the computer, but the gameplay is fairly easy to understand, and the gorgeous presentation and different gameplay modes give you compelling reasons to go beyond the usual local versus modes. If you're a veteran, the gameplay remains fine, and while the tweaks are nice, they aren't so transformative that it makes FC 26 feel obsolete. The presence of another mode with a soft expiration date that encourages heavy microtransaction use may actually dissuade potential players from making the yearly update.

Score: 7.5/10